Apple Talks to Beats About Subscription Service: Report

NEW YORK (TheStreet) --
Apple (AAPL) appears to be interested in music streaming services, even if it doesn't start its own.

Apple reportedly was interested in starting its own streaming service, to compete with the likes of Pandora Radio (P) , and although nothing has come to market, Apple's still thinking about the industry. The company's CEO Tim Cook met with Beats Electronics CEO Jimmy Iovine during a visit to Los Angeles last month, according to Reuters. The two executives discussed Beats' "Project Daisy", a music subscription service the audio technology company announced earlier this year, according to three people familiar with the situation.

Also involved in the meeting was Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, who is largely responsible for the iTunes Music Store.

Coincidentally, Iovine said that he had pitched then Apple CEO Steve Jobs in 2003 about the benefits of a subscription service, but Jobs was hesitant because of the prices he'd have to pay record companies. Jobs believed that the prices would come down eventually.

It appears as if the meeting was nothing more than fact finding for Cook, who inquired about Beats' business model for the service, as well as its roll-out plans.

Google (GOOG) is looking into a streaming service via YouTube, and Amazon (AMZN) is also reportedly looking at its own streaming service. Currently it offers Amazon Cloud, allowing users to store their songs in the cloud and transfer to different devices.

Shares of Apple were lower in Wednesday trading, off 1.19% to $426.03.